Tuesday, January 25, 2011

You have a few weeks to solve a PBL assignment. You have been divided in groups. When you sit down to work with your partners, take a good look at them for a while and remember that in nature (we are also animals) one can engage in a symbiotic relationship or in a parasitic one. It is up to you to decide which of the two will develop.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Today is the 202nd birthday of Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849). Poe was an American writer, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective-fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career. In Baltimore in 1835, he married Virginia Clemm, his 13-year-old cousin. In January 1845 Poe published his poem "The Raven" to instant success. His wife died of tuberculosis two years after its publication. He began planning to produce his own journal, The Penn (later renamed The Stylus), though he died before it could be produced. On October 7, 1849, at age 40, Poe died in Baltimore; the cause of his death is unknown and has been variously attributed to alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents.

Poe and his works influenced literature in the United States and around the world, as well as in specialized fields, such as cosmology and cryptography. Poe and his work appear throughout popular culture in literature, music, films, and television. A number of his homes are dedicated museums today.

"Annabel Lee" is the last complete poem composed by American author Edgar Allan Poe. Like many of Poe's poems, it explores the theme of the death of a beautiful woman. The narrator, who fell in love with Annabel Lee when they were young, has a love for her so strong that even angels are jealous. He retains his love for her even after her death. There has been debate over who, if anyone, was the inspiration for "Annabel Lee". Though many women have been suggested, Poe's wife Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe is one of the more credible candidates. Written in 1849, it was not published until shortly after Poe's death that same year.

The poem's narrator describes his love for Annabel Lee, which began many years ago in an unnamed "kingdom by the sea". Though they were young, their love for one another burned with such an intensity that angels became jealous. For that reason, the narrator believes, the angels caused her death. Even so, their love is strong enough that it extends beyond the grave and the narrator believes their two souls are still entwined. Every night, he dreams of Annabel Lee and sees the brightness of her eyes in the stars. He admits that every night he lies down by her side in her tomb by the sea.

Annabel Lee

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

And now enjoy the song and video by Spanish band Radio Futura, a pop rock group who rose to become one of the most popular bands in Spain during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1989 they were voted the best Spanish act of the 80s. The Spanish lyrics are simply an excellent and unbeatable adaptation of Poe's ballad:

Monday, January 17, 2011

American's observe the 25th Anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr. Day to honor the legendary civil rights leader.

It’s a day dedicated to the legacy of one of the most influential leaders in American history. On the 25th anniversary of the federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the media is paying tribute to the man- and his dream.

We’re analyzing coverage from the Los Angeles Times, WJBK, MSNBC, and The Guardian.

In honor of the holiday, President Barack Obama encouraged Americans to participate in “appropriate civic, community, and service programs.” The Los Angeles Times quotes the president as saying: “Dr. King devoted his life to serving others... Commemorating Dr. King's life is not only a tribute to his contributions ... but also a reminder that every day, each of us can play a part in continuing this critical work.”

It seems the president’s request didn’t fall on deaf ears, as Detroit’s WJBK shows, many are spending the day trying to spread his message: “There is so much more to do when it comes to the dream. The dream of students like this being able to walk down the street as black Americans, as white Americans, as Asian Americans and say ‘I am equal to everybody else’. It is something they are so striving for and on this day, it is not just a day off, it’s a day to wake up early, hit the streets -- all for this reason.”

And MSNBC featured Reverend Horace Sheffield as a guest. The Reverend advocates- as a society, we need to reevaluate ourselves, and look toward King for guidance: “He died fighting for peace and here we have people in our country who may not use bullets, may not use guns, but use press releases to be as violent and uncivil towards other people. So I think we gotta find a way to be a little bit more civil toward one another.”

In the Guardian, scholar and former speech writer for Dr. King, Clarence Jones, says despite the progress America has made, we must continue the fight to keep Dr. King’s dream alive: “The essence of his dream for African Americans...was this: a United States where every person has the equal opportunity... But this ‘all other things being equal’ is the lie of race relations in America. Because our country has not leveled the playing field at all.”

The government has set up a website with information on how you can volunteer in your community-- you can check that out in the transcript section of this story.

You have to customize Leo's poster for the festiLAB 2011 edition and translate it into English keeping the SAME LAYOUT, SAME FONTS and FONT SIZE and SAME IMAGES (feel free to ask him what font and font size he has used or any other info you need).
You can download the poster with the highest resolution and best quality here (Leo's file is only 209 KB, so yours should not be much 'heavier'.)

No automatic translations are allowed (forget about Babel, Google or any other of those useless translation gadgets) and you bet we will easily find out if you use one: CRIME NEVER PAYS. You will have to use your talent. Make it sound natural. Of course, some research will come in handy: find other cinema or theatre posters and take a good look at them to see what you can learn.
Remember that in our 'Online Dictionaries' section and our 'Resources' section (which you can find on the right-hand column of this blog) you will find all the tools you need to solve this PBL. We definitely recommend Wikipedia, Wordreference, The Free Dictionary, Linguee and Questions and Answers.

Once your poster is polished and finished you will have to forward it to our mail.

IMPORTANT: Only the following formats will be allowed: JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG or PDF. Your files must be identified using ONLY the name of your group (which you will find below). For example, GROUP_2A_1.jpg or GROUP_3B_3.gif. Points will be deducted if you do not identify your files properly.

Quora is a continually improving collection of questions and answers created, edited, and organized by everyone who uses it. The most important thing is to have each question page become the best possible resource for someone who wants to know about the question. One way you can think of it is as a cache for the research that people do looking things up on the web and asking other people. Eventually, when you see a link to a question page on Quora, your feeling should be: "Oh, great! That's going to have all the information I want about that." It's also a place where new stuff--that no one has written about yet--can get pulled onto the web.

Accumulating Knowledge

People use Quora to document the world around them. Over time, the database of knowledge should grow and grow until almost everything that anyone wants to know is available in the system. When knowledge is put into Quora, it is there forever to be shared with anyone in the future who is interested.

Reusable

Each question page on Quora is a reusable resource that should help everyone who has the question that the page is about. Answers on question pages don't depend on any context about the asker except for what is specified in the question text and details. There is only one version of each distinct question on the site, so everyone who is interested in or knows about that material is focused on that one place.

Collaborative

Almost any public space on Quora can be edited by anyone who knows how to improve it. This includes the text of questions and the details around them, what topics are attached to which questions, and the summaries of answers. Quora relies on the good faith of everyone using it to make it a high quality resource.

Continually Improving

People can write their own answers to questions any time they think a question page could become a better resource with more information added to it. People who read question pages rate the different answers so that the best ones can rise to the top of the page and make it better. And people can comment on each other's answers to help them make those better as well.

Organized

People who use Quora keep it organized. Each question has a set of topics attached to it which makes it easier to find questions already on the site. The topics are also used to identify related questions and sometimes give context to a question.

Targeted

People can follow topics so that the system can show them questions they are interested in and know about. People can follow individual questions too, which creates a waiting audience for anyone who wants to write an answer to the question. Some people call this "inverse blogging."

People

Everything on Quora is tied back to a person. Each question and answer has a revision history associated with it, and each change in the log is associated with the person who made it. People use their real names and pictures on Quora and have a short bio describing who they are; this helps anyone reading things they write to understand why they should believe what is written and take into account the author's perspective. For example, if Michael Jordan gives an answer to a question about basketball, that means something really different from someone who has never played the game giving an answer.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Yes, we know: Xmas holidays are over and we are sure many are feeling 'panic' at the mere idea of going back to school -- and not only students!

Just to cheer everybody up a little bit we have chosen a song by The Smiths, "Panic":

"Panic" is a song by the British alternative rock band The Smiths, written by singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr. "Panic" bemoans the state of contemporary pop music, and implores its listeners to "burn down the disco" and "hang the DJ" in retaliation. "Panic" was released by Rough Trade Records as a non-album single in 1986, reaching number 11 in the UK Singles Chart.

Composition and lyrics

A story circulated as the basis for the song is that days before recording the song, Marr and Morrissey were listening to BBC Radio One when a news report announced the Chernobyl disaster. Straight after the report, disc jockey Steve Wright played the song "I'm Your Man" by pop duo Wham!. "I remember actually saying, 'What the **** has this got to do with people's lives?'" Marr recalled. "We hear about Chernobyl, then, seconds later, we're expected to jump around to 'I'm Your Man'". While Marr subsequently stated that the account was exaggerated, he commented that it was a likely influence on Morrissey's lyrics. The band even commissioned a t-shirt featuring Wright's portrait and the phrase "Hang the DJ!"

The song begins with Morrissey mentioning chaos unravelling throughout Britain (specifically naming locales such as Dundee,Carlisle and Humberside). In the second part of the song, Morrissey reveals that the source of this chaos is pop music, which in his words "Says nothing to me about my life". In reaction, Morrissey implores listeners to "Burn down the disco" and "hang the DJ", the latter lyrics repeated with the addition of a chorus of schoolchildren. Morrissey considered the fact that the song appeared on daytime British radio a "tiny revolution" in its own way, as it aired amongst the very music it criticised.

The Smiths were an English rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey (vocals) and Johnny Marr (guitar), the band also included Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (drums). Critics have called them the most important alternative rock band to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s. The group were signed to the independent record label Rough Trade Records, for whom they released four studio albums and several compilations, as well as numerous non-LP singles.

Although they had limited commercial success outside the UK while they were still together, and never released a single that charted higher than number 10 in their home country, The Smiths won a growing following, and remain cult and commercial favourites. The band broke up in 1987 amid disagreements between Morrissey and Marr and have turned down several offers to reunite since then.The Smiths dressed mainly in ordinary clothes – jeans and plain shirts – which reflected the "back to basics" guitar-and-drums style of the music. This contrasted with the exotic high-fashion image cultivated by New Romantic pop groups such as Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran.

We bet quite a few students would like to join the chorus of schoolchildren at the end of the song and change this verse in the lyrics:

Friday, January 7, 2011

PhraseMix.com is a site that helps you learn natural, native-like English. PhraseMix introduces new English phrases each day. These phrases are carefully chosen to be:

Natural.

Useful.

Memorable.

The idea behind PhraseMix is that people don't speak a language fluently just by learning single words and grammar to stick them together with. Instead, fluent speakers remember longer groups of words that often go together. Having these combinations memorized makes it easy to know what you're going to say next.

PhraseMix teaches NATURAL language

Most language classes and textbooks teach a formal style of English that isn't used in most real-world situations. That's why most students who have studied English for a long time in school have trouble. They complain that they don't understandwhat people are saying when they speak to native English speakers.

PhraseMix is organized around different situations that you might find yourself in. The phrases we teach are all realistic, natural responses to that situation. If the phrase doesn't fit into a common situation, we don't teach it. So you don't have to worry about learning English that sounds "strange".

PhraseMix only teaches the most USEFUL phrases

There are other websites and books that teach you English phrases, but a lot of them focus on phrases that are "interesting" to native English speakers, but might not actually be very common.

Other English learning sites which teach phrases focus on idioms, which are long phrases that have a different meaning than you'd expect from the meanings of each of the words. Common examples of idioms are:

It's raining cats and dogs.

The early bird gets the worm.

I have two left feet.

But PhraseMix also teaches you common word collocations. Collocations are simply words that often come together. For example, people usually use the word "nice" before "day":

It's such a nice day out.

People use the word "nice" more often than "fine" or "good", even though each of these words has a similar meaning.

PhraseMix makes it EASY to memorize phrases

PhraseMix explains each new word and grammar point, but what we really want you to do is to memorize the phrase at the top of each post. The sentences are shortand don't include too many difficult words. The situations are specific and easy to imagine. And once you've memorized the phrase, it should be easy to remember the words and phrases that are part of it.

There are some more tools coming in the near future that will help you memorize the phrases even better. Subscribe to the email newsletter to get a weekly summary of the phrases, and be one of the first to find out about new services.

Find PhraseMix on Facebook, Twitter, read their blog, or join their e-mail list, all of it for free.

Monday, January 3, 2011

In Christian tradition the Magi (pronounced /ˈmeɪdʒaɪ/; from the Greek: μάγοι, magoi, usually translated as "wise men", although it probably meant "astronomer" or "astrologer"... that is why they were following a star), also referred to as the (Three) Wise Men, (Three) Kings, or Kings from the East, are said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts.Traditions identify a variety of different names for the Magi. In the Western Christian church they have been commonly known since the 8th century as Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. In the Gospel of Matthew, the only one to describe the visit of the Magi, it states that they came "from the east" to worship the Christ, "born King of the Jews". Although Matthew does not mention their number, because three gifts are recorded as having been given to the Christ Child, traditionally there are thought to have been three Magi. The Magi, as the "Three Kings" or "Three Wise Men" are regular figures in traditional accounts of the nativity and in celebrations of Christmas.

Western Christianity celebrates the Magi on the day of Epiphany, January 6, the day immediately following the twelve days of Christmas, particularly in the Spanish-speaking parts of the world. In these Spanish-speaking areas, the three kings receive wish letters from children and magically bring them gifts on the night before Epiphany. In Spain, each one of the Magi is supposed to represent one different continent, Europe (Caspar), Asia (Melchior) and Africa (Balthasar). According to the tradition, the Magi come from the Orient on their camels to visit the houses of all the children; much like Santa Claus with his reindeer, they visit everyone in one night. In some areas, children prepare a drink for each of the Magi, it is also traditional to prepare food and drink for the camels, because this is the only night of the year when they eat.

Spanish cities organize parades (cabalgatas) in the evening, in which the kings and their servants parade and throw sweets to the children (and parents) in attendance. The cavalcade of the three kings in Alcoi claims to be the oldest in the world; the participants who portray the kings and pages walk through the crowd, giving presents to the children directly

Matthew 2:1-12 describes the visit of the 3 Magi:

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. In Bethlehem in Judea, they replied, for this is what the prophet has written: 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.' Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him. After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Now you already now the story of the Three Wise Men of the East, and how they travelled from far away to offer their gifts at the manger-cradle in Bethlehem. But have you ever heard the story of Artaban, the Other Wise Man, who also saw the star in its rising, and set out to follow it, yet did not arrive with the other 3 Wise Men in the presence of the young child Jesus?

Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933) an American author, educator and clergyman wrote The Story of the Other Wise Man. You can read the story here or you can listen to Part 1, Part 2 or download the full story here.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

"New Year's Day" is a song by rock band U2. It is on their 1983 album War and it was released as the album's lead single in January 1983. Written about the Polish Solidarity movement, "New Year's Day" is driven by Adam Clayton's distinctive bassline and The Edge's keyboard playing. It was the band's first UK hit single, peaking at #10 on the singles chart, #11 on the Dutch Top 40 and charting on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in their career. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine placed the single at #427 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

The video was one of their first to see heavy rotation on MTV. It was filmed in Sälen, Sweden in December 1982 and directed by Meiert Avis. The band only appeared in the performance scenes of the video as it was filmed in the dead of the Swedish winter. U2 guitarist Edge revealed in the official U2 biography that the four people riding on horseback in the video that appeared to be the four U2 members were in fact four Swedish teenage girls disguised as the members of U2 riding on horseback with masks over their faces. This was done as the band were frozen from shooting the video in sub-freezing temperatures the day before. Their biography states that Bono refused to wear any headgear despite the cold weather and had a lot of trouble mouthing the lyrics. The video also features footage of Soviet troops advancing in winter during World War II.

U2 allowed free-of-charge use of this song in a spot prepared by the European Commission. This clip published on YouTube shows a transformation of Poland in last 20 years mixed with short scenes from today’s Warsaw seen from a perspective of a 20-year-old woman.